New Year's energy efficiency resolutions for your home

Many people make New Year’s resolutions at the start of each year, like saving money or getting into shape. If you are looking to save money this year, there are a variety of energy efficiency resolutions you can make by simply changing your behavior around your home. Here are New Year’s energy efficiency resolutions to help you save:

• Change your furnace filter regularly. Check your filter every month and change it if it’s dirty. A dirty filter will slow down air flow and make your furnace work that much harder, which wastes energy. Regularly changing your filter also helps extend the life of your furnace. • Use ceiling fans to save energy. Ceiling fans help circulate the air in a room and can help you stay warmer or cooler for pennies on the dollar compared with running your air conditioner or furnace. In the winter, run circulating fans clockwise to force air up. This moves warm air at the ceiling down the walls and back to the floor where it can help keep you warm.• Turn off your computer and monitor when they are not in use. Personal computers (PC’s), especially desktops can use a lot of electricity if they are left on when not in use. Get in the habit of turning your computer and monitor off whenever you are not using it. In case you forget, make sure to set your PC’s energy-saving mode to put the monitor to sleep after five minutes of inactivity, and your computer to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.

• Upgrade to energy-efficient lighting. When your incandescent bulbs burn out, replace them with energy-efficient lighting such as LEDs. To help you out with this, Wright-Hennepin (WH) offers $0-down LED light bulbs. Visit WH’s LED light bulb page for more information.To read more energy-saving tips, check out WH’s website at www.whe.org.